TV REVIEW – ‘GAME OF THRONES’ (Season 7/2017)

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past several years, or you’re just one of ‘those people’ who love nothing more than announcing to anyone who will listen (and be honest, probably a few who aren’t) that you’ve never watched a single episode, you no doubt know that HBO‘s fantasy juggernaut Game of Thrones recently concluded its seventh season in truly epic fashion.

(image courtesy of HBO)

If you’re one of those folks who have not yet caught up with the series, however, you should probably stop reading this right now as this review CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS!!

While this review will be MOSTLY Spoiler-Free, if you’re not at least caught up on the first six seasons, you do not want to keep reading. Consider yourselves warned…. NOW!

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Still here? Okay! Then let’s get right to it!

(image courtesy of HBO)

Game of Thrones‘ penultimate seventh season kicked off with a bang, as a familiar face shows up randomly for a very cool bit of “this was a long time coming” – the first of many such moments throughout the season. Daenerys Targaryen and her now-massive forces have arrived in Westeros and re-taken the island of Dragonstone, which was left completely abandoned when Stannis Baratheon went north to meet his eventual fate. Cersi Lannister sits on the Iron Throne in King’s Landing as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, though her support has considerably waned save for her brother Jamie, the Lannister army, and now the Ironborn now led by Euron Greyjoy, and Jon Snow has been crowned King in the North after he and his sister Sansa Stark have re-taken Winterfell following the events of the now-legendary Battle of the Bastards. Meanwhile, north of The Wall the Army of the Dead led by the frightening and powerful entity known only as “The Night King” continues to march his forces of horrific undead abominations closer to the borders.

(image courtesy of HBO)

Over the course of the season, the major players all move into place, drawing ever closer to one another, and the stage becomes very much set for the long-awaited final battles in the epic saga. While this very much gives us our first bit of “plot armor” in the series that has long bucked that trope, killing off countless major characters, trust me when I tell you that just because a few key characters now have a bit of safety, this still doesn’t go for ANYONE else. Fear not, dear bloodthristy fans, there is still PLENTY of death and dismemberment to look forward to with this new season… and most likely even more in the next!

(image courtesy of HBO)

As was to be expected with only seven episodes this season, things kicked off with the aforementioned bang, and the showrunners never took their feet of the gas, with every single episode absolutely action-packed, and a TON of very important plot developments. Worht mentioning is that since the series has officially surpassed the books from George R.R. Martin‘s “A Song of Ice & Fire” series, season seven is comprised mostly of all-new material, and thus the series is now paced much more like a traditional TV show, to the enjoyment of some, and dismay of others, I’m sure.

(image courtesy of HBO)

One thing that’s been a long time coming, is that the “good guys” are finally starting to get some real wins and the “bad guys” are finally getting some real comeuppence. While there’s still A LOT of story left to tell with a lot of the characters, and while I won’t say what they are (as I’m still trying to remain spoiler-free for this season, at least), I will say that a lot of subplots finally get resolved, and there’s plenty of satisfaction to be found with them. Oh yeah, and we finally get a HUGE answer to a VERY long-standing question, too. Can’t forget that one!

(image courtesy of HBO)

The Bottom Line:
Overall, Game of Thronesis one of the best shows on TV in this day or ANY day, and this season is absolutely no exception. It’s the fastest-paced season to date, with only the next and final season expected to go even harder and faster. Longtime fans will (and hopefully, already have) find plenty to enjoy and get excited about with this one, and there is a ton of reason to get hyped about the upcoming final season – which hasn’t yet set a date, but is expected to arrive withing the next year-to-year-and-a-half. Game of Thronesis currently available in its entirety on all HBO platforms, as well as many premium VOD services. – 10.0/10